Signaling system



A. 0. DOWD. slmmd's'vsnm. APPLICATION FILED JUNE 6.1918.

Patented Mar. 9,1920.

//7 l/6/7/0l. Andrew 0. Dawd &

mxunn s'rars PATENT union.

ANDREW D. DO'WID, OF HOBGKEN, NEW JERSEY, ASSIGNCBR T WESTERN ELECTRIG COMPANY, INCORE'GEATED. 033 NEW 103K, N. 2., A GOREORATJLUN OF NEW YGRK.

SIGNALING SYSTElVL specification of Letters Patent.

' l-Patented Mar. 9, 19230.

Application filed June 6, 1918. Serial No. 238 494':

a of which the following is a full, clear, concise', and enact description.

lhisinvention relates to selective s1gnalingsystems and particularly to systems tor transmitting combinations and permutations of current impulses for selectively actuating a plurality of electro-responsive devices at a receiving station.

Theprincipalobject oithis invention is the provision of selectively operable switching means and impulse storage devices whereby a group or permutation of impulses may bstored pending transn'iission, there by permitting the selectlve actuatlon ofthe switches for setting up a new character combination while the previously selected group or permutation of impulses is being trans mitted.

A further object is to provide an e'liicient and reliable transmitting .system whereby successive groups of impulses may be sent over a line circuit in rapid succession to e'i'iiect the operation of suitable. receiving mechanism.

For the accomplishment of the above objects the invention contemplates the employment of character determining means cooperating" with signal storage devices,

such as condensers or their equivalents, and

means for connecting the signal storage-devices sequentially with an electro-responsive device for controlling the line circuit. The

' companying drawing in which is disclosed fill one specific embodiment of the invention. Referring to the drawing, A represents a keyboard transmitter comprising a plurality of character determining elements, which elements maybe manually operated to deter mine the signals to be transmitted. B represents an automatic transmitter which may be controlled by a perforated tape or the like. The transmitters A. and B, both of which are well known in the art, may be of any suitable types. When the tape transmitter is employed, the switch contacts 15 to inclusive are moved into engagement with their respective upper contacts, as shown in the drawing, and when the key board transmitter is employed, the switch contacts are moved away from their respective upper contacts and into engagement with their respective lower contacts. Any suitable means may be provided for moving the Contact switches 15 to 23 inclusive from one positionto another.

In series with the line or loop L is a tongue of a polar relay 51 for controlling the conditioi'i of the line circuit. Qne terminal of the relay is connected through a potentiometer comprising a resistance 52 and battery to 'round, and the other terminal is connected to the sending common ring 42 oi? the transniiitting distributor d0. lhe arm 4:5 oi the distributor i0 is frictionally mounted on a constantly rotating shaft and is adapted to be released and arrested automatically at the end of each revolution, as will presently appear.

A. plurality of condensers, 30, 31, 82, 33 and 3d, are provided. in wl'iich the signaling impulses representing the various char acters may be stored prior to the transmission of the character can oination. One terminal of each condenser is connected to ground and the other condenser terminals are arranged to be connected to a grounded source of battery 53 through switch contacts 25 to 29 inclusive, which contacts are controlled by a charging ma 'net 4A, switch contacts 15 to :20 inclusive, and transmitter contacts 10 to 14 inclusive or transmitter contacts 55 to 59 inclusive, depending upon whether the automatic or keyboard transmitter is employed for setting up the character combinations. The condensers are selectivelycharged over the circuits including the above mentioned switch contacts, in

accordance with the selective action of the selectively charged from battery 53 through (Obviously other the transmitter contacts will he oischurgecl by the operation of the distributer through the winding of relay 51,;xncl those condensers which have been un eil-footed by the operation or" the transmitter contacts Will be charged throni battery source through the Winding of relay 51 and the respective segments of the clistributer.

Thus, if'it be assumed that the characters are'selectecl or the line circuit'is closed by liege ive impulses, the olar relay will throw the-tongue 50 int engagement with contact ll when the condensers are discharged through the relay 51 and will tl'irou the tongue 50 into eng igei'nent with its back contact, therebyope. 'ng the line circuit, when the condensers are charged through the relay Winding.

' A h etter understate be obtained from a description of the tion oi? the cli operaiuciuent to the selection and transmission of: oerticuhir character combination. Let itb 1 the system c assume-ti tl con'ihinzition of impulses i'e 'iresentiug the character D s to be tr. sm1tted by the uiatic transmitter .b, and let-1t he i ulteher b g c basuniecl that the combination cl? sigue p lses to be set up by the trensu" 7 represeutingthe cherccter Dis curreil no "current, no 'cuirrei current, no current.

iulino units may be employed" 1f (l6S11GCl.) Thereiore; trene mitter contacts 10 ml 13 will beclosed to partially prep-ere fr in l iattery 53 to condensers 30 until- 3' The condensers och-out switch contact 21., armature relay L6 and back contzictth iiig magnet switch coutz- 7. segment 48, brush ring 67", to groun l. 1 ie one lz'izatiou of magnet performs two i -c tions. First, by ettrglctiug a mature 68 a circuit is completed through the seudiug' start relay 69 from g5: 'oundeclgbz tter' '20 reluy V69, armature 68 of niegnet lat to l and secondly, by bringing contact switches 25, 26, 27, 28 end 29 into engegeu their front contacts charging circ i is establishecl for condensers and 233. The charging circuits for'the coucleihsers however, are ii'ieinteinecl only temporarily beceusecthe energizetiou of 'reley 69, in uchli tion'to bringing armature 72 into engagen'ient with its front contact to close en engeging circuit through start niagiiet 73, also attracts armature 71 and thereby opens the energizing circuit of inugnet ie at contact 4:7, Armature 71 one. switch Contact form at make-before-breek Contact, thereby maintaining reley 69 in its enerp'izezl position untilhrush 491m oii' O-fSGglilQRil 48. Upon the en'ergizationof start magnet 73, holding out with V into engr :oituct 1-1, thereby Dru. h u is released cell the brush 1i egmeut (i5 mud on to segment (iii the (lll'L/blfill oi flow of current through condenser lo (which condenser h: s prev ously been chiuy'gc-zl as will presently up pear}, so that ll ru'mture tongue 50 mm into 811;;21 out Jltll its bzuh :lrntuchtheuzby ope line circuit. The instant brush '5 "hzlO-llt (ill the condenser 31'} u'hi charged, \vlll clisclmrgifc mg of relay 51 :uul therew from battery through 51 to charge coiul'snscr current rel i 51 l oi o current thro ugh relay i, ion tending to throw gu. with its back :uct. .icn will exist hile brus e. i that is.

churuc cond nser :i 'ue 50 into en back contact anal he line circuit open. The 111i hr sh 75 eup'zu segment 63, however coucl the lircction flow will b A i l closuig t l in on o sogg current, g :rroni better} 5% thrmgh the relay 51 to Gilt-T316 condenser 53 l. ill cause the rel: tongue 50 Luge its 1 ttJlC Contact thereby opening the line cirhoe sending" s" zed when brush 5:8, lbs

rt reluy (if) was (leiiner- J passed off of segment armature 72 will e in engagement with its buck contact when brush 75 cu gages SGgEYEEDl and thereby establish circuit through. relay which will close the line circuit through relay tongue 50 lllUl contact 4-1. .i-lirnmturc 7;? relay (39, by moving away from it rent contact, opened the energizing circui of start magnet '73, thereby releasing the eetent Tl; and permit ting it to full back into position to engage upon completion of the reroluthe arm in tion.

During; the eye 'lc of operation just do scr1be l brush 1-35) interconnected ring (l7 with 1,332 are segment '76, therebyestablishing a circuittacts may have ample time to settle and store the new character combination. Thus. it will be seen thatyas soon as a particular character combination has been set up and stored in the signal storage devices and the circuits from the transmittercontacts to the signal storage devices are opened by'the'. deenergization of charging magnet let, the

; transmitter tape control mechanism may be operated.

In the storage and transmission oi the character signals just described it has been assumed that predetermined ones of the condensers have been discharged sequentially by the operation oiithe distributer through the winding of a polar line relay, while the remaining; condensers have been charged quentiallythrough the winding ot the polar relay by the operationof the distributor. It is theretore necessary that those condensers which have been charged in trans mitting the last character combination be discharged betore storing a new character combination. For this purpose a local segmerit 79is located on the distributor face so that immediately after the transmission of the last impulse of the character group a: circuit may be completed from grounded battery 80, energizing winding of lockout relav L6, discharging magnet 2-1, segment 79, in ish 4L9, ring; 67, to ground. The energir tion oi magnet connectsall the cond users to ground through the switch conto 39 inclusive, hereby permitting;- those condensers in which impulses stored to di scl'iarg'e. The energiration of magnet 2% also-attracts armature 89 and stores an impulse in condenser 88 which will be utilized during the next cycle to operate relay 51.

The operation of the system when using the keyboard transmitter is substantially the same as the operation described above in connection with the tape transmitter, except that when employing the keyboard transmitter A. the contact switches 15 to 23 inclusive are moved out of engagement with their upper contacts and into engagement with their lower contacts and an overlap relay S1 is operated to prevent repetition of characters in the event a key is held depressed or a period of time greater than the time required for the brush arm to make one revolution and also to prevent the mu tilation of character combinations in case two keys are depressed in rapid succession. it will be seen that, when a key of the key lap magnet 81, armature it-3 lay 436 and through tin .iiargiug magnet ii, as

board (not shown) is depressed to selectively close the switch contacts to 59 inclusive, and switch contact 82, a circuit will be established from .Q'rounded battery 825, switch contact 8:2, r "itch contact 22, overoit lock-out rehereinbeiore traced. lt will also be seen that by means of relay arn'n-itures S-eland and locking Winding; of relay ill, ii any key oil? the keyboard is held depressed until the distrihuter brush 49 engages segment 79 and operates relay 426, the relay 4'6 willlock up and thereby hold opcnthe energizing; circuit of magnet ll until the depressed key is released. It will also be seen that if the key first depressed is released and. a second key is depressed before the clnii'acter combination set up by the depression of the first key is transmitted, the locking circuit of relay 4L6 will be open at armature 84lof overlap relay 81 and the look-out relay in will not be locked to interfere with the starting circuit for the second character.

x In the line circuit L is shown a line relay 86 whichnlay be ei'npioyed to control the operation of a home recording instru-v ment, for example, a printer. A plurality of such relays may be employed at asmany different receiving stations for operating suitable receiving instruments as fully disclosed in copending application Serial No. 176,390, filed June 22, 1917..

hat is claimed is 1. In a selecting system, a line circuit, an electro-responsive device for controlling said line circuit, electrical storage devices, character determining elements tor storing electrical impulses in said devices in predetermined combinations, and a distributor for utilizing the stored impulses and for storing additional impulses in those devices which were unall'ected by said character dotcrmin 'ig elements to operate said electro-responsive device. l i p 2. In a selective signaling system, a plurality of electrical storage devices, a plurality oi? character determining elements, means controlled by said character determining elements for storingelectrical impulses in said devices in different combinations, a circuit including a responsive device, and means for utilizing the stored impulses and for storing additional impulses in said storage devices to operate said responsive device.

3. In a selective signaling system, a circuit including a responsive device, a plurality of electrical storage devices, means for simultaneously storing electrlcal .nnpulses 1n prodetermincd ones oi" said storage devices, and

, means for storing electrical impulses in. the

--l. In a selecting system, a plurality of con- 7 densers included 111 normallyopen circults,

selectively operable means for controlling the charging of-said condensers in various permutations, and an electromagnet controlled by said selectlvely operable means ior simultaneously completing the charging cir cuits to the condensers.

5. In a selective signaling s stem, a plurality of condensers, means for charging predetermined ones of said condensers with current of agiven polarity, character determining elements controlling thecharging of said condensers, a circuit including a responsive device, :and a distributor for discharging said charged condensers and for charging the discharged condensers sequentially through said responsive device.

6,111 a selectivesignaling system, :1 p ra-lity oi 'cond c selectively operable switchcsiiorcontrolling the charging of said condensers invarious combinations depending uponthe signal to be transmitted,

a circuit including a responsive device, and

means for discharging said charged condensers and. forcharging the uncharged conl asers sequentiallythrough said resprmsivc 7. in a selective signaling system, a plurality cot normally discharged. condensers,

ineans'for chargingpredetermined ones of said condensers with one polarity, means for charging the remainingones'of said condensers Wltll a. dirlerent polarity, and a clrcuit including a responsive device, said responslve device belng'controlled by the d1scharging of the predeterminedly charged condensers and by the charging of the lastmentioned condensers.

8.111 a selective signaling system, a plu rality' oil condensers, selectively operable means for charging predetermined ones of said condensers with one polarity, a responsive device, and means controlled by said selectively operable means rfor discharging the charged condensers and for charging the remaining condensers sequentially through said responsive device.

9. In a selective signaling system, :1 p111 rality oil. condensers, character determining elements for charging predetermined ones of said condensers, means for d1scharging said charged condensers and. for charg iug the remaining condensers of the group,

and means controlled by said lastanentioncd means for discharging the remaining ones of said condensers.

10. In a selcctirc signaling system wherein each character transmitted is represented by a different permutation of current impulses,

a set of selectively operable switches for determining the character to be transmitted, group of normally discharged condensers, means under the control of? said switches for charging predetermined ones of said condensers, a circuit, and means :tor discharging said charged condensers and for charging the remaining condensers of said group sequentiall' through said circuit.

11. In a telegraph transmitter, a line circuit, a relay controlling said line circuit, a plurality of condensers, means for charging predetermined ones of said condensers with one polarity, and means for successively discharging saidcharged condensers and for c 

